


What is a hit?

by longlivefeedback



Category: No Fandom
Genre: LLF Comment Project, Other, ao3 features, ao3 hit counter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 15:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13790856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longlivefeedback/pseuds/longlivefeedback
Summary: An explanation of how AO3 counts hits to a work.





	What is a hit?

According to AO3′s [FAQ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Farchiveofourown.org%2Ffaq%2Fstatistics%3Flanguage_id%3Den%23hitstats&t=OTg5ODYzYmM1YmM2YTQzZjU1NTYzZDEzN2I2OWE2YzcwODgyNjliNixqalloZHJGRw%3D%3D&b=t%3AIpAB_w2_aqVUbdtX6pX9WA&p=https%3A%2F%2Flonglivefeedback.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F171077127668%2Fhits-visits-and-readers&m=0):

> Hits are a counter of how many times a work has been accessed. A hit is registered every time a visitor navigates to a work’s page, with the following exceptions:
> 
>   * If two visits in a row come from the same IP address, only the first one is registered.
>   * Moving between chapters in a work will only register one hit in total, not one hit per chapter.
>   * If you’re logged in, hits are not counted when you visit your own works.
> 

> 
> Note that hits only log the number of visits to a work, not the duration of the visit. The number of Hits in the Totals box on your Statistics page (refer to [Where do I find Statistics?](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Farchiveofourown.org%2Ffaq%2Fstatistics%3Flanguage_id%3Den%23statslocation&t=NDExNzEzOGZhNjVlZGNhZGQ3ZTkxNmYzYmVlYjQwOTBiNDBlY2FiNCxqalloZHJGRw%3D%3D&b=t%3AIpAB_w2_aqVUbdtX6pX9WA&p=https%3A%2F%2Flonglivefeedback.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F171077127668%2Fhits-visits-and-readers&m=0) for instructions) is the total number of hits all your works have received.

Hold up.

Read that first bullet point again. 

> **If two visits in a row come from the same IP address, only the first one is registered.**

What does this mean exactly? Here’s an example from AO3:

> So if you visit a work, then leave the page and view it again (from the same device and internet connection) the following week, and no other user has visited it in the meantime, your second visit would not register as a new hit.
> 
> However, if I had visited the work after your first visit but before your second, then your second visit would count as a new hit.

Here is another example. Pretend that your AO3 fandom consists of only three people: You, your friend, and an author. The author posts a fic and never looks at it again. Being the loyal fanfic followers you are, you and your friend both strive to read the fic.

 **Scenario A:**  You open the fic first. Your friend is busy with real life and does not open the fic until the next day. You take your time and read the fic over the course of the day, refreshing the fic four times (from the same device and internet connection so that your IP address is the same).

Since you are the sole reader that day, even though you visited the fic five times (your first visit was when you first opened the fic + four times you refreshed), AO3 registers that all five consecutive visits were from the same IP address and therefore does not count the four times you refreshed the page as hits.

Visits: 5   |   Readers: 1   |   Hits: 1

You finish the fic today and close out of it. The next day, your friend opens the fic and begins reading. The first time they open the fic (visit 6 of the fic), AO3 registers that the IP address is different from the previous visit. The hits counter ticks up by one.

Visits: 6   |   Readers: 2   |   Hits: 2

Your friend also takes their time and refreshes the fic four times over the course of the day. Since they are the only reader that day, at the end of the day, the score is:

Visits: 10   |   Readers: 2   |   Hits: 2

 **Scenario B:**  You and your friend both open the fic on the same day. You open it first, and then they do. If each of you refresh the fic four time with you refreshing first, and interleaving both of your refreshes, at the end of the day, AO3 would have recorded thus:

Visits: 10   |   Readers: 2   |   Hits: 10

* * *

There are multiple variations on these scenarios but hopefully these two are enough to illustrate how the hit counter on AO3 works. AO3 has their reasons for coding the hit counter the way they do (mostly to do with privacy and storage of information issues), but that’s a hit, and that’s why hits should only be used to make a  _rough estimate_ of the number of readers — and why you shouldn’t put too much stock in the kudos/hits ratio (particularly for multichapter fics). 

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), whose goal is to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions and clarification requests
>   * Corrections
> 

> 
> While this is a study as opposed to a story, we greatly value all feedback and support. We will reply to all comments as time allows, prioritizing corrections and questions.


End file.
